Un homme à la hauteur (2016) Reviews

• A delightful French farce that is funny and sad and loaded with charm.

  CineMuseFilms2016-12-12

  You'll search far and wide to find a positive review of this film but you have found one here. Like every romantic farce, Up For Love (2016) is a comedy based on situational humour rather than dialogue or action. It's a genre that shows people revealing themselves by how they react to the unexpected and this one is funny and sad and loaded with charm. The plot line is simple: a beautiful lawyer loses her phone and a caller offers to return it if she will dine with him. Freshly divorced Diane (Virginie Efira) is trying to move on and is vulnerable to the smooth-talking Alexandre (Jean Dujardin). When they first meet she is stunned to find that the high-profile architect is 4 foot 6 inches tall. It is a hilarious scene of studied avoidance and shifting glances. But they hit it off and start dating, and each situation into which Diane introduces Alexandre is a farcical study of how people react to his diminutive stature. Throughout it all, Alexandre endures the stares and jibes with good-humoured acceptance despite the callous insensitivity of people towards those who are different. There is an unmistakable feeling of guilt in laughing at how Alexandre copes with everyday moments in his life, like needing to jump up into a normal size chair and see his dangling feet not reach the floor. But that is the whole point: how would we react in the situation? Dujardin is a pin-up star of French cinema and he plays here with irrepressible warmth and forbearance despite his short straw in life. Efira is his perfect match and plays middle-class embarrassment to perfection. Critics have complained that the digital effects to down-size Dujardin are clumsy. It is true that if you look for it, you can notice some between-scene differences in scale and perspective that slightly alters his size in relation to the frame. Just ignore it. The whole of cinema involves suspension of disbelief and this story has more than enough going for it to be spoilt by minor hiccups with experimental technology. Love stories between mismatched souls have always been the lifeblood of romantic comedy, so in one sense Up For Love is just another take on an ancient theme. If your glass is always half empty, then this film is a flawed cliché. For others, it is a delightful romance that doubles as a serious essay on dealing with difference. It is heart-warming and awkward, original and familiar, all at the same time.

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• Love is stronger than, erm, midget

  Karl Self2016-09-02

  This is the classic French romcom with a twist. A dashing architect and a big girl lawyer fall in love with each other. Who wouldn't, they've got everything going for them, so much so that it's sheer willpower that keeps them from falling heels over head in love with themselves. And every man should take a few pointers from Alexandre how to properly woo a woman. The only hitch is that this French lover stands barely 1,40 m tall. Although this predicament is obvious from the start, and I felt a bit nauseous about how truly wonderful Alexandre is (he's great at anything), the movie still provides a lot of momentum and keeps the story going. It's especially fun to watch how they make the 1,82 m tall actor Jean Dujardin appear to be only 1,36 m tall by a number of old school tricks (his counterpart Diane (Virginie Efira) standing on a box, or Jean Dujardin kneeling) and CGI (green screen).

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• The 4 points all go to Virginie Efira

  charliep142016-10-28

  Yet another failed French Comedy. This decade has not been kind for French Cinema and comedies are pretty catastrophic. This one is no exception. The main issue to enjoy this movie is suspension of disbelief : the special effects used for Jean Dujardin to become a small man just don't work. They're incredibly botched: Dujardin looks inserted into every scene, nothing flows naturally and, most importantly, he doesn't look like a short man, he looks like a shrunk man. There's a difference and it's a big one. He looks like somebody kneeling, he looks like somebody you put on a smaller chair and in SFX he looks shrunk to 60% So one can never get into the movie simply because it doesn't look right. And then you have to go through a fairly ridiculous Rom Com, quite by the books hence predictable, not funny for a single moment and not charming for another. With the exception of Efira...who's just great. But even her charm and wits can not save this movie. Pass Pass Pass

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• Small World

  writers_reign2016-08-26

  Yet another delightful rom-com from France that is all too easy to surrender to even as you are aware of the loaded dice. Just once it would be good to watch an improbable love affair in which the protagonists were ordinary people. Here we have a leading man - and by definition the romantic lead - who is only four foot six inches tall, okay he is attractive and charming and a talented - and rich - architect all of which make it that much easier for a normal-sized woman to fall in love with him (in reality the actor Jean Dujardin is five foot eleven and three-quarters so no actors were shrunk during the making of this movie) but how much more realistic if he were a charming cashier in a supermarket so that all he had going for him WAS his charm. The woman who falls for him is also too good to be true, not only beautiful but a successful lawyer. These caveats aside this is a real charmer with two excellent leads and yet one more beautiful French actress in the shape of Viginie Effira, who, to the best of my knowledge has not appeared in many films that played in the UK though I did see her in a lovely film in December last entitled A Sense Of Wonder. This is one I'll definitely be adding to my DVD collection. Catch it if you can.

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• Delightful french movie

  coche2016-12-23

  Up for love is a movie about Alexandre, a little man that with his charming and gallant attitude tries to win the heart of equally charming and pretty Diana. I felt identified with Alexandre, since in the past I had a girlfriend that was taller than me xD The movie focus a little in the socially acceptable side of the relationship without becoming too serious. It also has a few funny moments here and there. I think the best of the film is the performance of both actors, but I specially like Virginie's Efira portrayal of Diana. Finally, it has been a long time since I don't see a delightful movie like this, and Up for Love becomes like an oasis in the middle of Hollywood blockbuster movies that I usually end up watching. I enjoyed it a lot.

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